Web Roadmap

These are our plans for changes to our services in the near and long term. This is not an exclusive list and we encourage you to read through our Quarterly Communications to see a list of changes we make throughout the year. If you have any questions or feedback, email us at webmaster@middlebury.edu.

Q1 & Q2 FY2026 (July - December 2025)

Public Drupal Sites (www.middlebury.edu)

• Create a custom Panopto oEmbed endpoint and migrate video and the associated components to the core media module.
• Create and publish an account lifecycle strategy for editor accounts to ensure that people who no longer need to edit the website are removed without disruption to ongoing editors.
• Normalize configuration across sites using config_split so that new features and feature updates only need to be applied in one place.
• Improve the editor experience by introducing interface changes.
  • Apply the Gin theme.
  • Add the workflow_buttons module
  • Add the paragraphs_ee module
    • Create descriptions for each component
    • Create an icon for each component
  • Provide a way to add images to videos within the media library
  • Fix the “pencil” contextual editing link for layout footers
  • Improve the labels used in dynamic event sorting
• Implement our third party analytics tools policy by removing Google Analytics from sites where it is not needed or being used. Determine a strategy to provide quick page-level analytics to editors.
  • Create documentation for the Plausible dashboard in Drupal and open that up to editors who want to use it to view stats.
• Document processes and train non-tech staff to triage issues and outages in Pantheon and use Logz to troubleshoot issues.
• Upgrade to Drupal 11 and switch to the “Gin” theme for administration.
• Ensure that the alert banners on our websites are understood by the Emergency Response team and adequately meet their needs.

Frontend and Design Updates

• Develop a design system for Middlebury.
• Update the frontend build scripts to a modern framework.
• MIIS Pardot landing page redesign.
• Redesign of the undergraduate admissions homepage and landing pages.

Accessibility

• Add an accessibility checker to the WYSIWYG editor.
• Transition all editors in SiteImprove to use SSO accounts.
• Develop a report and process for video transcript compliance.
• MyEmma - Form field missing a label in form embedded through embed component.
• Drupal - Social links on Offices and Services page don’t have alt text.
• Frontend - ARIA attribute unsupported or prohibited in logo bar on institute homepage.
• Institute - Image missing a text alternative.
• Events - Image missing a text alternative.
• Content - Table cell missing context.
• RSS Courses - Incorrect role set on anchor tags in RSS course and FAQ component, should be set to role=”tab”.
• FAQ - Incorrect role set on anchor tags in RSS course and FAQ component, should be set to role=”tab”.
• Portrait Video - Visible label and accessible name do not match in portrait video, audio components.
• Audio - Visible label and accessible name do not match in portrait video, audio components.
• Content - Empty headings.

Course Hub (courses.middlebury.edu)

• Integrate ArcGIS.
• Integrate Google Classroom.
• Integrate Microsoft Class Teams.
• Hold a meeting with DLINQ during the summer to scope a portfolio of work.

Course Catalog (catalog.middlebury.edu)

• Develop and implement a plan for long-term hosting of this service.
• Implement Plausible for tracking usage.

Directory (directory.middlebury.edu)

• Get agreement on the scope of records in the Directory and their visibility.
• Begin work on a Drupal site to replace the .NET application.
• Shut down the Windows servers by the end of the calendar year.
• Implement Plausible for tracking usage.

GO (go.middlebury.edu)

• Decide on an approach to handle conflicting go.miis.edu shortcuts.
• Move the web_domains cookbook to an independent server.
• Implement the project plan to move the application to Drupal completing phase 1 and 2.
• Implement Plausible for tracking usage.

Infrastructure

• Migrate the configuration of the middleware servers from Chef to Ansible.
• Rewrite the MyEmma sync script from C# to PHP and place it on the middleware server, or remove this service.
• Shut down the Windows scheduled task machine.

Content Projects

• Migrate all SiteImprove accounts to SSO.
• Improve self-serve training/support.
• Sites with active content refresh and redesign work.
  • Academic Field Trip Guidelines
  • Admissions
  • Campaign website
  • CCE
  • CCI
  • Clifford Symposium
  • College homepage
  • Commencement
  • CoLab
  • Counseling
  • French Department
  • Health Services
  • ITS Viewbook
  • MIIS Learning Path
  • Q Center
  • Sustainability and Environmental Affairs
  • WRMC

Long Term Plans

Public Drupal Sites (www.middlebury.edu)

• Support the Drupal Experience Builder for editing.
• Showcase Faculty and Student research.
• Centralize management of Profiles and allow people to edit their own.
• Implement a content governance system with a content refresh cycle.
• Provide in-page analytics.

Frontend and Design Updates

• Document our design system.
• Use a tool like Storybook or Emulsify to link the design system to Drupal templates.
• Implement a design governance system with a review and refresh cycle.

Directory (directory.middlebury.edu)

• Create a central hub for Profiles which can be searched, edited, and aggregated.
• Move this service out of C# and into a framework supported by more staff which can be externally hosted on one of our several hosting providers.

GO (go.middlebury.edu)

• Improve the user experience when editing shortcuts.
• Create an export process to facilitate disaster recovery with a backup system.
• Use this as a test case for implementing headless / decoupled Drupal.